Introduction
Most passenger flight originates from commercial airports, which are located where fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and other types of aircraft take off and land. Commercial airports consist of a runway for planes to take off and land, and a helipad which is specially designed for helicopters. Other facilities include buildings which serve the commercial airports such as hangars, terminals and control towers. Not all airports are located on land as there are commercial airports which have water as runway for takeoffs and landings of specially designed planes which use such structures.
History
Commercial airports may also be referred to as airfield or aerodrome, in general. The term airport may be used to refer to an aviation facility that is of higher stature than an aerodrome. Legally, airports are only those facilities which have achieved certain standards set by both the national and international regulations. This is to mean that while all airports are aerodromes, not all aerodromes are airports.
Large commercial airports have seaplane docks, air traffic control, and fixed base operator services to facilitate air travel. Such airports have supporting facilities such as restaurants, lounges and emergency services incase they are required, such as ambulance and fire services. Unlike commercial airports, military air services are usually referred to as air station or an airbase.
Features
Smaller commercial airports often have a single runway, which is shorter than 1,000 m(3,300 ft). Such airports have grass, gravel or dirt runways, unlike large airports which have asphalt or concrete for their runways. Most minimum dimensions for landing fields are defined by the national landing and takeoffs field lengths or simply by the aviation authorities in that particular country. The US is credited with being the only country with the most airports in the world which are approximately 15,000 total. China has the longest run-way measuring approximately 5,500 m(18045 ft)
Most commercial airports are owned by national, regional or local governing bodies who then lease the airports to private entities to supervise the day to day operations of the airports. The BAA limited (UK) operates 7 of the commercial airports in the UK and other airports outside of the country. In the US, commercial airports are run by the government entities or alternately by government created airport authorities, which are commonly referred to as port authorities.
Commercial airports are divided in to airside and landside locations. The landside areas include parking lots, public transportation and access roads. On the other hand, airside areas include runways, ramps and taxiways. Recently, due to security threats, access from the landside to airside areas is tightly controlled in most of the airports around the world.
Commercial airports passengers access the airside areas through terminals where they buy tickets, claim luggage or clear security when they board aircrafts through particular gates. Terminals are at times referred to as a concourse, which refers to passengers waiting areas.
Tips and comments
Commercial airports can be either towered or non-towered depending on the density of the traffic and whether the managing authorities have the necessary funds for such facilities. Most international airports have air traffic control towers located on site in order to best control air traffic.
